I’ve been playing my way through this year’s ParserComp entries. It’s an annual GameJam for text-based parser games where the winner gets their own lanterna lantern. ( And why not? It can get dark out there. )

I like text-based games because i think constraints bring creativity1. Even with AAA games, the specific questions of how you can make a game that fits within the constraints of hardware can yield really interesting art styles and gameplay choices.

I also like that the games are bite-sized ( at least the ones that i’ve played this year ), and it’s cool that – for a bunch of the authors – this is their first time making a game.

My favorite so far is Zugzwang.

zugzwang logo

There’s only four rooms, four directions of movement, and maybe sixteen keywords you can type: all of which the game teaches you while you play. But the writing is great, and with those few commands there’s a puzzle in how to apply them.

Don’t take my word for it. Go play it. It takes maybe 15 minutes start to finish.

  1. Speaking of constraints, if you want to make something fun to play, but only have ones and zeros… what do you do? oh, right. first, you build a microprocessor and then you can create anything you want! ↩︎